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Is IT too cheap to upgrade my RAM or not?

J

JS80

Lifer
My specs are P4 2.4Ghz, 512MB RAM, 8MB shared video.
So basically I run Outlook, remote desktop, trillian, firefox and excel. I usually have 10 excel files open at the same time. My computer runs super slow towards the middle of the day, and firefox seems to be a major memory hog. So I complained to the IT guy that adding more RAM would improve my system performance. And he responds with this:

512 MB of RAM (which is what you have in your PC - the seemingly missing 8MB are used by the video processor), is a good amount of memory. You just can't run 20 application windows at the same time and expect the computer to fly. We might upgrade your RAM, but the real problem here is the way you are using the machine. Even with twice as much RAM, you'll still notice slowing with that many applications running simultaneously.


He thinks because I have 10 spreadsheets open (which don't require processor while not being used) my system is slow. The task Manager only shows Excel as using 2,744KB.

What irks me is that there is a computer that's being unused and has 1.24GB of RAM.

edi: my task manager
Firefox takes up 100mb
Winword (wtf i didn't even open word today) 41mb
svchost 29mb
outlook 13mb
excel (10 windows open) 11mb
trillian 7mb
the rest is system stuff
 
your IT guy is a moron. jesus if you have to go buy some ram and put it in yourself. dont' listen to him. 1 gig is a pretty big noticeable upgrade from 512mb.
 
can't you just stop using firefox? If its a company machine and FF isn't preinstalled, then they don't really have a reason to buy more ram. just use IE.
 
I'm tempted to pwn this little fvcker but I don't want to be on his bad side considering he's one of 2 IT people.
 
Your IT guy is an idiot and doesn't know what he's talking about. Link him here so that he can realize this (I'm sure there aren't too many people telling him this).
 
What does the rest of your task manager look like? What's chewing up the most memory and CPU when your system is going the slowest?
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Your IT guy is an idiot and doesn't know what he's talking about. Link him here so that he can realize this (I'm sure there aren't too many people telling him this).
Click to expand...

 
Originally posted by: JS80
He thinks because I have 10 spreadsheets open (which don't require processor while not being used) my system is slow. The task Manager only shows Excel as using 2,744KB.
Click to expand...


Excel will show 2,744kb becuase you minimized it and windows paged much of the program out. I just opened a simple excel file in taskmanger is reporting 19megs of ram usage.

If your using XP 512 should be plenty fine for excel work. Now if you were using photoshop or 3DStudio max.. or dreamweaver, then I could understand, but really, just close some windows every now and then.

If your not using Windows 2000/XP, upgrade to one of those.
 
Originally posted by: Wuffsunie
What does the rest of your task manager look like? What's chewing up the most memory and CPU when your system is going the slowest?
Click to expand...

Firefox takes up 100mb
Winword (wtf i didn't even open word today) 41mb
svchost 29mb
outlook 13mb
excel (10 windows open) 11mb
trillian 7mb
the rest is system stuff

anonymouse: we don't use norton. we use trendmicro.
 
It's a work machine.....

unless he needs the RAM.....they are not gonna give it to him.

At my job, my machine only has 384 MB of RAM and i too run 6 excel workbooks at one time and on top of that I run AudioPrism which is a resource hog (and poorly coded for that matter). I get slow downs once in a while, but it's nothing I can't cope with.
 
Originally posted by: dawks
Originally posted by: JS80
He thinks because I have 10 spreadsheets open (which don't require processor while not being used) my system is slow. The task Manager only shows Excel as using 2,744KB.
Click to expand...


Excel will show 2,744kb becuase you minimized it and windows paged much of the program out. I just opened a simple excel file in taskmanger is reporting 19megs of ram usage.

If your using XP 512 should be plenty fine for excel work. Now if you were using photoshop or 3DStudio max.. or dreamweaver, then I could understand, but really, just close some windows every now and then.

If your not using Windows 2000/XP, upgrade to one of those.
Click to expand...

I don't just use Excel. I use Great Plains and Frx for reporting and such. I need tabbed browsing with firefox.
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Your IT guy is an idiot and doesn't know what he's talking about. Link him here so that he can realize this (I'm sure there aren't too many people telling him this).
Click to expand...

Tempting, but I don't want to be on the naughty list of the company. I definitely don't want to piss off 50% of the IT team.
 
You would speed up your system response with more memory, but it's not likely a priority, especially if there are things you can do to minimize the need for changes. Hmm, just noticed my firefox was taking up 400+mb. Heh, suppose I better take a peek at that 🙂
 
You need to see how much RAM is being used. You listed programs, but why not tell us how much TOTAL RAM is used? It should be really obvious that that is the parameter you should be concerned about...
 
I'm not seeing where you are even close to swapping.

Originally posted by: JS80
Firefox takes up 100mb
Winword (wtf i didn't even open word today) 41mb
svchost 29mb
outlook 13mb
excel (10 windows open) 11mb
trillian 7mb
the rest is system stuff
Click to expand...

100 + 41 + 29 + 13 + 11 + 7 = 201MB
512 - 8 - 201 = 303MB

Is Windows really using 303MB+?
 
512 is fine for winxp.
i don't notice any slowdown when i run multiple programs. what it could be is the virus scanner just scanning like crazy with all those open. at that point, it's about processing power. maybe tinker with virus scanning settings?

and 8 megs of memory on the video card is pretty small, i know on my friends xp2800 he had a matrox card with only 8 megs... it definitily slowed things down when switching between applications (but he did use a 1280x1024 resolution)
 
It's a work machine. Are you supposed to be running Trillian and surfing the web? What is your company's acceptable use policy? Are you in violation?


 
Originally posted by: compudog
It's a work machine. Are you supposed to be running Trillian and surfing the web? What is your company's acceptable use policy? Are you in violation?
Click to expand...

The whole company uses yahoo msger to communicate. I do a lot of research on the web, and I do surf a lot. Company doesn't give a crap if I surf as long as I get my work done. And no, I am not in violation.
 
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